Category Archives: News

The Centre for Primary Literacy Education (CLPE) have carried out a survey on the books published for children in the UK in 2017, the first large scale piece of research of its kind, and the results are sobering. Librarians and booksellers will unfortunately probably not be surprised to hear that this study into ethnic representation in children’s literature has revealed that only 1% of main characters were BAME, indeed only 4% featured any BAME character. BookTrust is currently undertaking a related but separate piece of research regarding the ethnicity of authors and illustrators, with their findings due to be published in September.

As disappointing as this is, I have hopes that things can only get better, but to help this as readers and book pushers we need to be sure that we’re supporting the books that exist, and shouting for more! Have a look at our regularly updated list of UK BAME authors and illustrators (and tell us if someone’s missing).

You may have heard that Matt is leaving our shores for sunnier climes, heading to the Sunflower State of North America (Kansas to me and you). With this in mind, he’s asked me to come on board and help keep the UK perspective of Teen Librarian while he dives into US priorities. He’s still very much at the helm but I’m looking forward to doing my bit.

So, a brief introduction: some of you may know me as CazApr1 on twitter, where I’ve been blathering about books and libraries since 2009. I have worked in libraries since 2004, finished my MA in librarianship in 2007, moved from public libraries to a school library in 2009, and Chartered in 2014. I have been on the CILIP YLG London committee since 2010, am currently Chair and have just finished my tenure as CKG judge. My 3 year old arrived as I started pre-reading for CKG (she wasn’t 3 at the time…), and I currently work in a special school library only one day a week. I enjoy rescuing and rejuvenating libraries that have been unloved for years, and supporting colleagues with ideas for engaging students of all ages and abilities, as well as reading lots and lots of kids books. Now that the enforced CKG secrecy over what I’m reading has ended, I hope to contribute book reviews and book-lists to this site, as well as articles about Important Things.

Bookbuzz is a reading programme that supports schools to encourage reading for pleasure. The programme is suitable for schoolchildren aged 11 – 13, regardless of their reading ability or learning needs.

The 17 books, carefully selected by our panel of experts, ensures the programme is fully inclusive and offers something for every student. It is designed to be flexible and work alongside the English Department’s existing reading strategy. Bookbuzz offers students the element of choice, allowing them to find the right book for them and get excited about books and reading.

In Bookbuzz 2018, the award-winning Ross Mackenzie brings you his new book Shadowsmith (Floris Books), the amazing Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell feature with Fortunately, the Milk (Bloomsbury,) the 2010 Blue Peter Book Award winner Ali Sparkes with Car-Jacked (Oxford University Press) and Bus Stop Baby (Piccadilly Press) by Fleur Hitchcock whose title Murder in Midwinter was last year’s top choice.

Laura Kinsella, Director of English, Kingsthorpe College said: For us, Bookbuzz really does help create that “buzz” about reading. From the moment we tell year 7 students that they will get to choose their very own book to keep, excitement fills the air. As an English department, we want nothing more than to see our students become enthusiastic readers and what better way to do that than for them to take ownership of their reading journey.

Diana Gerald, CEO, BookTrust said: Choice is a key element to reading, but sometimes finding the right book can be overwhelming with so many options. Bookbuzz is a wonderful way to help boost reading for pleasure in your school, offering students a list of fantastic books and tools that help them make that most important decision on what they actually want to read.

Author Fleur Hitchcock who features in the 2018 programme said: I think Bookbuzz is brilliant because it’s about choice, about pleasure, about having fun around books. It’s about getting a book into the ownership of children who don’t own books, and about introducing confirmed readers to new texts. It’s about encouragement and joy – like an enormous book group for thousands of children. I feel honoured to have a book as part of this fantastic selection. Long live Bookbuzz.

The shortlist for the 2018 Branford Boase Award is announced today (Wednesday 2nd May 2018). The Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.

Now in its nineteenth year the Branford Boase Award is recognised as one of the most important awards in children’s books with a hugely impressive record in identifying authors with special talent at the start of their careers. Previous winners and shortlisted authors include Siobhan Dowd, Meg Rosoff, Mal Peet, Philip Reeve, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Patrick Ness; Costa Book Award winner Frances Hardinge won with her debut novel Fly By Night in 2006. The shortlist for the 2018 award is as follows:

A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe, edited by Fiona Kennedy (Head of Zeus: Zephyr)

The City of Secret Rivers by Jacob Sager Weinstein, edited by Gill Evans (Walker Books)

This year the judges are Urmi Merchant of children’s bookshop Pickled Pepper Books; Helen Swinyard, librarian at Heartlands High School and founder of the Haringey Children’s Book Award; author and reviewer Philip Womack; and M.G. (Maya) Leonard, author of Beetle Boy, winner of the 2017 Branford Boase Award. The panel is chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children’s director of the Hay Festival.

Julia Eccleshare says: Each year the Branford Boase Award discovers authors with outstanding talent and promise: this year is no exception. The BBA also celebrates the lively state of children’s publishing in the UK and we were excited that no less than 26 different publishers entered books with seven making the shortlist. By concentrating on the most exciting new voices, the Branford Boase consistently highlights trends in contemporary children’s fiction: our 2018 judges were struck by the huge predominance on the longlist of domestic dramas. Children’s adventure it seems has become internal, the setting no longer the outside world but frequently the family, with narrative tension and action arising from issues such as mental health and individual trauma. Nonetheless, our seven shortlisted books have new stories to tell and vibrant new voices to tell them.

The winner of the 2018 Branford Boase Award will be announced on Wednesday 4th July at a ceremony in London. The winning author receives a cheque for £1,000 and both author and editor receive a unique, hand-crafted silver-inlaid box.

For more information about the award, including a full list of past winners, and the Henrietta Branford Writing Competition visit www.branfordboaseaward.org.uk

Peter Capaldi hosts national writing competition awards celebrating creative talents of children and young people in care

On Monday 9 April, Coram Voice announced the winners of Voices 2018, its national writing competition for care-experienced young people, at a ceremony held at the headquarters of its corporate partner Coutts and hosted for the second year running by actor and former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi.

Coram Voice, which is part of the Coram group of charities, launched the competition in 2016 as a positive platform for children in care and young care leavers to share their stories and celebrate their talents.

Peter Capaldi said: It was an honour to host the Voices awards ceremony again this year and meet the talented young writers. The entries provide a diverse and moving collection of stories, and I am immensely impressed by the writers’ ability to convey their emotions and experiences through the power of the written word.

The competition judges included writers, authors, poets and journalists, with a special interest in, or personal experience of the care system, They praised the entrants on the powerful and creative ways they met the competition theme of ‘Who or What Makes You Proud’.

The Voices 2018 winners are:

Primary School Winner – To My Sister! by Aminah, aged 11

Author Lisa Cherry and poet Dreadlock Alien, judges of the Primary School category said: This is a poem with meaning and purpose well beyond a competition. Good poetry says the most things with the fewest words and this poem does that. Great poetry prompts reactions from the listener or reader and this poem does that.

Authors Jenny Molloy and Lola Jaye said: This piece comes from a very talent lyricist, and matches the theme beautifully whilst exploring it in such an interesting way. The reader feels more uplifted with each verse, so much so you can almost see the stars and sparkles leaping out of the page!

Upper Secondary School Winner – Never Said Enough by Charde, aged 16

Judges Jackie Long, Social Affairs Editor for Channel 4 News and poet Mr Gee said: From the first line we were hooked. A background story of real pain but ultimately the huge power of love and gratitude. The storytelling is superb – it is a wrenching, heartbreaking piece but the intensity of pride and love spoke to us with every line.

Singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan and reporter Ashley John-Baptiste said: The poem is written in a very clever way, and really spoke to us. The title of the poem used as the ‘punchline’ of the piece is what we loved most. The writer has great capability to project their experiences onto paper.

Brigid Robinson, Managing Director at Coram Voice said: We are delighted with the fantastic response we’ve had to this year’s competition, receiving more than double the number of entries compared to last year. We want to thank all the children and young people for sharing their stories with us and embracing the theme in powerful and creative ways.

The winning entries are available to read at coramvoice.org.uk/voices-2018. They are also currently on display to the public in the windows of Coutts headquarters on Strand, London. The bank supported the Voices 2018 competition as part of its partnership with Coram, chosen as its current charity of the year.

So there is no easy to say it so I will just come out with it: in July this year my family and I will be moving to America to be closer to her family. We both live thousands of miles away from our homes (I come from South Africa originally) and after a protracted discussion we decided on the US of A.

I will be handing in my notice at school for the end of the school year and, well we are already mostly packed up and just need to organise shipping of treasured possessions (books mostly) and in July we will be shipping up to Boston (and thence to Kansas).

What does this mean for TeenLibrarian?

Well I plan to keep blogging about Libraries and Books but this may take on a more international flavour (I will refuse to drop my ‘u’s as that is just wrong), Teen Librarian Monthly may take a brief hiatus during the move and getting settled but I want disruption to be as minimal as possible.

If anyone is keen to submit articles for TLM and TL the blog please do get in touch.

What will I be doing over there?

I hope to continue my career in Libraries as I have not spent over half my life as a Librarian to just start doing something else, plus I love the work. That being said… I will not be precious about it and am fairly talented at a few things so will turn my hand at anything that comes my way!

Any American Library folk looking at this I would appreciate any advice on getting into Libraries over there…

Starting today and running until 3rd February, Wikipedia is hoping to entice Librarians into helping them make their online encyclopaedia more accurate by adding one reference to an article to help it become more reliable then adding #1Lib1Ref in the edit summary to help them track participation.

How to Participate: Five Basic Steps

Find an article that needs a citation. There are many ways to do this. Here are some strategies.

Filling a “Citation Needed” using Citation Hunt

Finding an article with sourcing problems

Select an article while browsing

Cite a source from your collection or research

Find a reliable source that can support that article

Add a citation using Wikipedia Style. Click here to learn about adding citations and editing Wikipedia

Add the project hashtag #1Lib1Ref in the Wikipedia Edit Summary

Share your edit on social media and learn more about libraries and Wikipedia. Grab a userbox for your user page if you’re into that sort of thing.